Mississippi craft brewers want to sell beer at breweries

3:18 PM,
Jan. 23, 2014

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Mississippi's burgeoning craft brewing industry and beer distributors are at odds over brewers wanting to sell direct to customers who visit them.

The state's temperance laws, dating to the post-Prohibition 1930s, create a "three-tiered" system, requiring beer manufacturers to use a distributor to sell to stores and restaurants. "Brewpub" restaurants are allowed to sell beer they make for on-premises drinking, and breweries can provide free samples. But they cannot sell beer for off-site consumption.

Craft breweries, of which the state has eight, say they don't want to disrupt this ...